USA TODAY International Edition
AT&T customers get free Spotify Premium
Starting Tuesday, certain AT&T customers can get Spotify Premium for free as part of a new partnership between the streaming service and phone carrier.
AT&T “Unlimited & More Premium” customers can choose a Spotify Premium subscription as their entertainment option that comes with the phone plan. This gives one free Spotify Premium subscription per “Unlimited & More Premium” account, not line. Customers have seven options including HBO, Showtime and Pandora, and can choose a subscription for no additional cost.
“We’re always looking for different content options,” said Mitch Farber, vice president of consumer marketing at AT&T. “They don’t have just one content option, they can choose from a variety of options and we want to make sure they have a choice within the music category.”
With 50 million tracks, billions of playlists, podcasts and product integrations with Samsung and Hulu, Spotify is “compelling” as one of the options AT&T customers can choose from, says Marc Hazan, vice president of Premium partnerships at Spotify.
Select AT&T customers can also get a free six-month trial of Spotify with their plan. This includes customers with the Connected-Car plan and customers part of the AT&T “THANKS” program.
The “Unlimited & More Premium” plan costs $48 per line or $190 a month for four lines. In addition to the entertainment option, it also comes with a 15 GB personal hotspot and HD-quality streaming.
Current AT&T customers can upgrade to the Premium plan and select their entertainment option. Current Premium plan customers can choose Spotify or another entertainment option after their current option is over. Each subscription lasts one year.
The partnership comes after Verizon announced in January “Beyond Unlimited” and “Above Unlimited” customers could get a free Apple Music subscription with their plan. In April, the Wall Street Journal reported Apple Music jumped Spotify in U.S. subscribers at the end of February with 28 million paid subscribers, 2 million more than Spotify’s 26 million.
The “Beyond Unlimited” plan costs $60 per line per month for four lines and the “Above Unlimited” plan costs $50 per line per month for four lines. “Go Unlimited” plan for $40 per month for four lines comes with a free six-month trial.
T-Mobile’s “Magenta” and “Magenta Plus” plans come with with a standard Netflix subscription for $40 and $50 per month per line for four lines, respectively. Hulu is included with a Sprint “Unlimited” plan and add Tidal with “Plus” and Amazon Prime benefits with the “Unlimited Premium” plan. “Unlimited” costs $60 a month, with “Plus” costing $70 and “Premium” $80.